MUMBAI, India (AP) — IOC president Thomas Bach was urged by its members on Sunday to change Olympic rules on term limits and seek four more years as president.
Bach’s presidency is due to end in 2025 – a 12-year maximum agreed in anti-corruption reforms passed after the Salt Lake City bid scandal broke in the 1990s.
However, citing the recent years of global crises, several of the 99 International Olympic Committee members opened their annual meeting Sunday suggesting they needed more of Bach's leadership that started in 2013.
The Olympic movement needed “to go through this period of torment with a president who has proved his mettle,” African sports leader Mustapha Berraf said.
“We really need to be able to rely on the leadership you have shown,” said IOC member Luis Mejia Oviedo of the Dominican Republic.
Though Bach has never publicly sought a term limit-busting third mandate, the option has been spoken of in international sports circles since he was re-elected in 2021 at a meeting held remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. The IOC gives its president a first term of eight years.
“I cannot hide how that went straight to my heart,” Bach told IOC members of their praise at its annual meeting being held in Mumbai.
Bach cautioned the presidential term limit is enshrined in the IOC’s book of rules and principles.
“I’m very loyal to the Olympic Charter,” the German lawyer said. “Being a co-author of this Olympic Charter drives me to be even more loyal.”
Extending Bach’s term would need a proposal submitted ahead of an annual meeting, known as the Session. The next is scheduled in July in Paris on the eve of the 2024 Summer Games.
Only one IOC member has publicly spoken about a possible leadership bid: World Athletics president Sebastian Coe, a two-time Olympic champion in the 1,500 meters, head of the 2012 London Olympics organizing committee and a former elected lawmaker in the British parliament.
Coe turns 70 in September 2026, the year his IOC membership should expire, and a 2025 election should be his only option.
A diplomatically expressed counter to extending Bach’s term was suggested by gymnastics federation president Morinari Watanabe, who has been speculated as a possible IOC leadership candidate.
“You guided us all that sports organizations must follow rules and have high integrity under good governance,” Watanabe suggested. “Sports demonstrate discipline and the spirit of fairness to society.”
“I love you, Mr President Thomas Bach,” the Japanese official said, “because I believe you are a correct person.”
Bach replied: “Thank you for your love.”
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